Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

10/16/2008 - Old Lion Still Roaring

There are very few individuals in the world sports who are instantly recognizable by just their first name.

In basketball you have Kobe and LeBron, and in baseball there is Manny. But around these parts there is just one name that has that type of instant recognition when it comes local high school sports and that name is Vic.

That’s right, just Vic. Ask any Sussex County Interscholastic League sports fan who Vic is and I would venture to guess that close to 100 percent of the people polled will give you the right answer, and most likely, a visceral reaction as well.

But no matter how you feel about him, Vic Paternostro is one heckuva football coach and he proved it yet again last week in Pope John’s stunning 33-6 win over previously undefeated Jefferson at Jefferson Township High School.

Paternostro’s Lions came in well prepared mentally and physically and took it to the talented Falcons from the get-go in an incredible performance that was worthy of the Old Lion’s 350^th win in 40-plus seasons at the Sparta school.

It just wouldn’t seem right if Vic’s milestone victory came in a blowout. Vic showed once again what a great big game coach he is and beating the Falcons, who had run roughshod through the SCIL until last week, really illustrated his coaching greatness.

Paternostro is now an amazing 350-63-5 in 42 seasons, which is second behind another Jersey legend, Warren Wolf of Brick, on the all-time state football wins list. Wolf, who is in his 52nd season, is 357-120-11 and is showing no signs of slowing down as he enters his early 80s.

But this blog is not a love letter to Vic. He is not perfect and he can be gruff and demanding to his players and the media alike. And as I said before, the mere mention of his name conjures up deep emotional responses on both sides of the aisle, so to speak.

And believe me, I have seen both sides of the legend, but for people not to acknowledge and appreciate that one of the greatest football minds in state history resides in our backyard would be foolish.

The numbers are staggering. Besides the 350 wins, which work out to eight victories per season, Paternostro has guided the Lions to 20 section and state titles and 18 SCIL crowns, the most by far of any coach in the area.

To put it in perspective, Don Smolyn, a legend in his own right, has 255 wins and six SCIL titles, albeit in 10 fewer seasons.

I’ve known and followed Paternostro’s Lions ever since I was kid. My father would take to me to PJ games before there was a Vernon Township High School and I remember watching this giant of a man prowling the sidelines yelling and screaming.

This was before Paternostro ran into his health problems, including his chronic hip condition which has plagued him for decades. The former Notre Dame lineman was an intimidating character and he knew it as did his players, his coaches, opposing coaches and, yes, especially referees.

Playing against the Lions as a high school player, it was always ingrained in your head that you had to beat Pope John and some schools fostered a hatred of the Lions program, and still do till this day.

But as I got older and began covering the Lions on a professional level I started to understand that a lot of the animosity toward PJ was based on jealousy and I had a new-found respect for the football program.

Yes, before everyone thinks I’m a PJ shill, I’m fully aware of the athletic advantages that non-public schools (I hate that term, parochial was just fine) have in that they can draw from everywhere. But that is not what this blog is all about. That is an issue for another time.

No matter how the athletes found their way to Pope John, they still had to produce, and Paternostro has been able to get every ounce of potential out his players, much like Bobby Knight, the controversial college basketball coach.

Paternostro and Knight are very similar in that they do things their own way and don’t seem to care what anyone, especially the media, thinks of how they do it.

But back to the players. Paternostro has had some great ones over the years from Hugh Albore, Pat Shea and Terry Karl, who sadly passed away a few years ago, in the 1970s, to all the Beach, Johnston and Pyszczmuka brothers, Dave Magadan, Bobby Streko, Larry Arico, Chris Piela, Matt Petronzio, Jason Harper, Hank Trogani, Frank Wilpert, Devin Perez, Jeremy Tucker, and the list goes on.

Without them, the Lions would not be the powerhouse they have become. But give Paternostro all the credit for taking over a struggling program in the late 1960s, and through hard work, turning it into a state-wide power.

Paternostro has had many memorable wins in his amazing career, but the one that I will always remember occurred in December of 1996 at Giants Stadium. In what seemed like their annual clash in the then-Parochial Group 2 state playoffs, the Lions (11-0) squared off with DePaul (9-2) on a chilly early Friday evening under the lights in East Rutherford in the state final.

The Lions over the years had the Spartans', and their outstanding coach Joe Lennon's, number. But 1996 was supposed to be different. The Spartans were loaded with talent and were paced by All-Stater Dante Siciliano and quarterback Brian Buczek. The Spartans were ranked in the top 3 in every statewide and metropolitan area poll and were the heavy favorites.

But being the underdog, which hasn’t happened too many times in Paternostro’s career, had the Lions salivating. The little school from Sparta played its heart out and stunned the Spartans 14-7 behind then junior tailback Hank Trogani and outstanding two-way linemen Greg and Marty Pyszczmuka.

The Lions wrapped up the win when reserve defensive back Nick Dilworth, who now teaches and coaches at PJ, made a key interception. And the place went wild.

I vividly remember after the game you couldn't wipe the smile off of Paternostro’s face as he waited for the postgame press conference to begin. He was yelling for a diet soda and laughing. When an out-of-the area writer asked him what he said to his team at halftime to get them fired up, it was vintage Paternostro.

Vic just smiled and said, “I didn’t yell or scream because we don’t do that at Pope John.” As he was saying that I busted out laughing with my fellow colleague Mike Kuhns, who knew darn well Vic was yanking the guy’s chain.

But the funny part was that Paternostro looked over at Kuhns and me and winked as he was saying it. Classic.

So when I heard that Vic pulled off another stunner against Jefferson last week, I wasn’t surprised at all. Remember, you can’t spell victory without V-I-C. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist).

That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.

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Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

10/16/2008 - Old Lion Still Roaring